Disposable absorbent articles with wings refer herein to personal care articles for absorbing bodily discharges. Typically, the articles having wings include catamenial napkins for absorbing menses (as well as other vaginal exudates), panty liners, adult incontinence pads for absorbing urine, and the like. These wings have been used to provide certain functions including integrating the article with the panties of a wearer for proper positioning of the article on the body of the wearer and preventing panties from “staining” by excretions when the article fails to prevent leakage. However, the panties containing an article with its wings wrapped around the crotch area of the panties can cause certain bodily discomfort to the wearer, caused by changes in the width and shape in the crotch area of the panties, often affected by the wrapped wings. Another cause of the bodily discomfort can result from the panties loosing elastic capability to stretch and contrast in response to bodily movements of the wearer.
FIG. 1 shows a photograph of a conventional wing 2 of a disposable absorbent article, wrapped or folded around a panty edge 3 of the panties 6 in the crotch area 7. It can be seen that the folded edge 5 of the conventional wing 2 does not follow the curvature 8 of the panty edge 3, thus, creating a distance 9 between the edge 3 and the folded edge 5, changing the width and the shape of the crotch area of the panties containing a feminine article with folded wings. It can be also seen that there are wrinkles 4 in the folded conventional wing 2, also capable of contributing to the bodily discomfort of a wearer.
Furthermore, the folded edge 5 of the conventional wing 2 of FIG. 1, typically tends to resist to stretching or contraction when the panty edge 3, often having elastic properties, stretches or contracts during wear of the panties 6 by a wearer. This deficiency of the conventional wing 2 to accommodate the elastic capability of the panty edge 3, can also contribute to bodily discomfort of a wearer.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a disposable absorbent article with wings, which, during folding by a wearer around the edges of the panties, are capable of conforming to the curvature of the edges to improve bodily comfort of the wearer. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to provide a feminine hygiene article with wings, which, during wear by a wearer, are capable to stretch or contract to accommodate stretching or contracting of the elastic edges of the panties. And finally, it would be beneficial to provide a method for manufacturing a material for the wings capable of providing the above benefits.